With little more than three weeks to go until Election Day,
President Bush and Sen. Kerry met at the Washington University in
St. Louis for the second of three presidential debates.
Charles Gibson moderated the 90-minute "town hall" format debate, in
which the candidates fielded questions from an audience of 140 "soft
Bush" and "soft Kerry" supporters.
The St. Louis area residents asked a total of eighteen questions
covering
subjects ranging from Iraq and homeland security to health care, the
environment, the Patriot Act, Supreme Court appointments and
abortion.

Cheryl Otis opened by asking Kerry to explain the impression that he is
"too wishy washy." Kerry responded that Bush had "turned his
campaign into a weapon of mass deception." James Varner
challenged Kerry to "look directly into the camera" and pledge that he
would not raise taxes on families earning less that $200,000.
Kerry did. Sarah Degenhart asked Kerry to speak to those who
believe abortion is murder. Kerry remarked on his Catholic faith
and stated, "I can't take
what is
an article of faith for me and legislate it
for someone who doesn't share that article of faith, whether they be
agnostic, atheist, Jew, Protestant, whatever."

Bush's
toughest question may have come from Linda Grabel, who asked, "Please
give three instances in which you came to realize you had made a wrong
decision, and what you did to correct it." Bush said he stood by
his decisions on big questions such as Iraq and tax cuts; he conceded
only that he had "made some mistakes in appointing
people." Responding to a
question from Daniel Farley, Bush stated, "We're not going to have a draft,
period." James Hubb asked Bush how he would rate himself as an
environmentalist. "We've got a good,
common-sense policy," Bush said. "I
guess you'd say I'm a
good steward of the land."Neither candidate made a
significant gaffe; both candidates sounded familiar themes. Bush
characterized Kerry as someone who "changes positions a lot" and is
"the most liberal in the United States Senate." He said Kerry's
claims
of being a fiscal conservative were "not credible." "Of course
he's
going to raise your taxes," the President declared. Kerry
described
the Iraq war as "a catastrophic mistake" and declared, "The president
rushed our nation to war without a plan to win the peace."
Referring
to a Bush tax cut, Kerry said it "went to the wealthiest people in the
country" and is an example of "wrong priorities."